The District Council of Trade Unions is the umbrella group that represents about 1,600 city employees in seven distinct unions – AFSCME Local 189 has about 800 employees, Laborers’ Local 483 has about 700, and five other unions representing electrical workers, machinists, mechanics, operating engineers, plumbers and painters have about 100 employees.

Rob Wheaton, chief negotiator for the unions, said the official position of the affiliates was support of the 4-year contract. But members of the laborers’ union largely but not exclusively led opposition to the proposal.

“There was a lot of concern raised from the laborers,” he said. “They’re obviously not the only ones. They just don’t have the votes to do it.”

Wheaton said he plans to meet with union leadership on Thursday to discuss what prompted the rejection. He said he also plans to talk with the city about those concerns.

Calls to Portland’s Human Resources director and assistant director were not immediately returned.

Votes were tallied Monday night between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Wheaton said. DCTU announced the vote on its Twitter feed and Willamette Week first reported the news Tuesday.

Wheaton said this marks the second time in a year that a Portland union rejected an offer recommended by the bargaining team. The 911 operators union did the same thing, he said, and DCTU also rejected an offer recommended by the bargaining team a decade ago.

“This is not nearly as rare as people think,” he said. “It happens.”

Options moving forward include returning to the negotiating table with the city or declaring a strike, Wheaton said.

On the AFSCME website, the union warned that “the City is not required to go back to the table and will possibly implement their last best offer since a strike authorization was not included in the vote.”

Wheaton said it might take a week or more to figure out next steps.

“At some point we have to do something,” he said. “We have to reach an agreement.”